


Scalpel Jockey

by golden_tragedy



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: M/M, barca players are doctors, but no one dies this time, it's chaotic, jose mourinho wants his surgeons to be better than pep's doctors, kind of romeo and juliet vibes from this, leo and cris vibe spectacularly, pep just wants everyone to leave him alone, real players are surgeons, rivalry ensues, surgeons and doctors anren't supposed to vibe together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:27:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26253388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/golden_tragedy/pseuds/golden_tragedy
Summary: Leo wasn't prepared for this.Then again, could you ever be prepared for a situation like this? It started off calmly enough. He just wanted to impress Pep Guardiola, his medical hero, so he joined one of the best hospitals in Spain, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves. He didn't count on hot surgical interns, meeting Mrs. Martinez or doing something very, very illegal.OrLeo's just here to help people but now he's somehow stuck in an ethics hearing
Relationships: Gerard Piqué/Sergio Ramos, Isco/Frenkie de Jong, Lionel Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo
Comments: 10
Kudos: 28





	1. 1

“We need you to wait here,” Doctor Andres Iniesta tells Leo “I’m going to get your ID card printed.”

“Sure,” Leo sits down on a nearby chair, watching as the residents, Iniesta and Xavi walk away and leave the waiting room. 

He bounces his knee, watching as surgical interns in turquoise scrubs walk past, laughing and jostling each other, a few medical interns come by, and they’re all done before he is. 

“Yo, Cris, you ready for Dr. Mourinho?” a tattooed blond guy in turquoise scrubs asks, elbowing his friend gently. And while the blond's honey eyes are mesmerising, it’s ‘Cris’ who makes Leo’s breath catch slightly in his throat.

He’s taller, tanner, his hair is loosely gelled back just enough to seem windswept and not - I just got out of bed- and there's a diamond earring glinting in his ear as he shrugs, but his words are cut off by the entrance of an older, brown haired doctor with crinkled eyes.

“Surgical interns, I am your resident, Iker Casillas.” he casts a glance at everyone present and nods “Now follow me. Walk faster, Dr. Varane. Neither I nor your attending Dr. Mourinho finds any use in slow moving surgeons.”

A tall, bulky guy quickly hurries up so he’s walking in the middle of the group. 

Sighing, Leo throws his head back, staring at the plain white ceiling when there’s an insistent cough by him. He glances around, trying to pinpoint the source when the woman a few seats down from him collapses forward onto the floor. 

The woman next to her shrieks in alarm.

“Help!” 

Leo’s momentary surprise fades, he takes a second to breathe and then stands up calmly. 

“Everybody give her space.” he calls out loudly, and he’s bending down to check her pulse when a doctor drops to his knees beside her 

“Pulse is weak, she’s unresponsive,” he mutters, looking around. Upon spotting Leo, he beckons to him. “You. Rookie. Come here.”

“Coming,” he quickly takes the last few steps to reach her and helps the doctor get her onto a gurney nearby

“What was she coming in for? Has she filled out a form yet?” the doctor looks to nurses

“No,” a man in purple scrubs says “she just walked in.”

“Rookie, check her bp. She’s going to die on this table if you don’t do it quickly,” he snaps 

Moving faster than he ever has in his life, Leo grabs at a blood pressure cuff and slips it over her arm, pumping the bulb and reading the numbers.

“It’s plummeting,” he says, “she’s hypotensive. We need fluids fast.”

The nurse in purple scrubs moves to put an IV in and Leo continues scouring her body for any symptoms. He takes careful note of the bruise on her elbow, and as she flexes her hand weakly, he sees her blue fingertips. 

“Doctor, her fingertips are turning blue, I think that’s low blood oxygen saturation.” 

The doctor raises his eyebrows 

“You think, or you know?”

“I know.’ Leo says calmly without skipping a beat.

“Good. And bruising that quick suggests she’s a hemophiliac. Listen to her lungs”

Leo quickly slides the stethoscope around, listening carefully. 

“Nothing on the left and the right is struggling.” he listens for a second more, and the next time he speaks, it sounds like more of a strangled cry than the calm voice of the doctor in front of him “Doctor, she’s going to suffocate!” 

“Nurses, code blue over here,” the doctor calls calmly.

A nurse hurries over, and the doctor begins to carefully pump air into her lungs. And as Leo gets a second to breathe, he feels the panic begin to rise. This is nothing like med school and that’s setting in all too quickly. 

“Doctor, what’s happening to her?”

“Consider the clues, Rookie. You know what this is.”  
Under the attending’s stern gaze, Leo takes a deep breath, quickly going through the catalogue of information in his head as he thinks over the symptoms.

“It’s a hemothorax!” 

“Precisely. A blood vessel has ruptured, preventing her lungs from expanding. Nurse, we need an emergency thoracotomy here.” 

A nurse hands Leo a scalpel and a chest tube. 

“I’m not a surgeon!” Loe recoils, holding the scalpel as far away from himself as possible. 

“Rookie, if she dies, it’s going to be on you. Make the incision.” the attending says, glaring at him. Leo turns his attention to the woman’s still chest, scalpel trembling in his hand. 

The doctor grabs his hand, pressing it firmly so it stops shaking.

“Deep breath, and then make the incision.” he says quietly

Leo takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a quick second, then he opens them, steadies his hand, and makes a careful incision.

“Now the chest tube,” 

Equally carefully, Leo sticks the tubs into her lung and it starts to drain the blood. The woman sucks in a deep, rasping breath. 

“Nurse, get her to an O.R room. She’ll make it.” 

“I can’t believe I just did that,” Leo says with a proud grin on his face. This is everything he imagined being a doctor as. 

The doctor looks at him, raising an eyebrow. 

“It’s a miracle you didn’t kill her. Your scalpel technique is amteur at best and a dog could have gotten to the root of the problem before you,” 

Leo gapes at him, all the happiness fading. He wants to fight back, instead he just says 

“Sorry, Doctor.”

And the doctor huffs and walks away. 

“What an asshole,” Leo mutters 

“Don’t let him get to you,” a nurse grins “Dr. Guardiola’s just like that.”

“That’s Pep Guardiola- of course it it was Pep Guardiola,” Leo throws his hands up in exasperation 

“I take it you’re a fan?”

“Of course I’m a fan! I’ve read all of his research! It was him who inspired me to come into medicine!”

“Look, man, I know being a doctor’s tough and all, but you’ve got orientation in five minutes.” the nurse taps his watch pointedly 

“Oh, right.” Leo looks down at his blood-stained scrubs “shit, I can’t go to orientation like this.”

“No big deal, let me drop you to the locker room. You can change there.”

“Thanks, uh...what’s your name?”

“Carles, Carles Puyol.” he says as they walk through the corridors, taking a few turns before coming in front of a brown door. 

“I’m Leo.” Carles hands him his ID as he moves towards the door.

“Well, Leo this is where I leave you,” Carles pauses, “and hey, welcome to the best hospital in Spain.”

“Thanks,” Leo smiles at him and walks in. The first thing he sees is a shirtless guy with overly large front teeth.

“Oh!’ he averts his eyes awkwardly, “I’m so sorry,”

The other guy laughs 

“How the hell did you get through med school without seeing a shirtless guy?”

“It’s not that,” Leo protests quietly as he backs away “I’m just-oof!”

He walks straight into a wall. With a surprised yelp, he twists, only to see the surgical intern from earlier. Cris. Who is also shirtless. 

“Go easy on him Luis. It’s the first day for all of us.” he says with a grin, tousling his hair slightly.

“I’ll go easy on you if you stay out of my way,” Luis rolls his eyes, but he’s grinning too. 

Cris scoffs, turning his attention back to Leo. 

“You’re awfully quiet. The beaver didn’t scare you off, did he?”

“If I scare you, you chose the wrong profession,” he squints at Leo’s ID card “Messi.”

Leo meets Cris’s gaze 

“I don’t scare easy,”

Cris doesn’t seem bothered. 

“Good. Neither do I. I’m Cristiano Ronaldo, also known as your new favourite surgical intern.”

“Ignore the meathead,” Luis says, and this time there;s no grin on his face. “He's just a scalpel jockey.”

Both of them ignore him. 

“Leo Messi. Internal medicine.”

“Ah, you’re with me then. Come on. We should be getting to orientation.” Luis jerks his chin towards the door as Leo quickly takes off his blood stained scrubs and puts on new ones. 

“Do you just plan to stay shirtless all day, or?” Luis arches an eyebrow

“Hey, if you have it,” Cris gestures down at his washboard stomach “you should flaunt it.”

“Right,” Luis says “you ready, Leo?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If every doctor who cried in a supply closet quit, there'd be no one here but the patients.

A bald man frowns at all of them from the atrium. Leo gently elbows Luis. 

“Who’s that?”

Luis shoots him a disbelieving look. 

“Did you study medicine under a rock or something? That’s Zinedine Zidane. He’s the best neurosurgeon on the planet. And now Chief of Medical Staff. 

“Is he just a scalpel jockey too, Suarez?” Cris appears by Leo’s side, squinting over his shoulder at Luis who rolls his eyes. 

“He’s the exception to the rule,” Luis rolls his eyes as if it should be obvious. 

“Sh,” Leo cuts off Cris’s reply, jerking his chin at Zidane. 

“Some of you will crumble under the pressure of your intern year,”

“That’s inspiring,” Cris mutters and Leo stifles a laugh. 

“We hope not, because this hospital is known for its exceptional doctors and surgeons. But those of you who make it past the trials of this terrible year, will become the greatest doctors in the world. Good luck to you all, and please report to your attendings for your case assignments.”

“Good luck,” Cris winks at Leo before disappearing in the direction of the other surgical interns. 

Leo and Luis watch him go, Leo with a flush rising to his cheeks. 

“Leo,” Luis puts his hands on his shoulders “be careful, okay? The lot of them are bad news,” 

“But-“

“You two! What are you waiting for?” Xavi raises his eyebrows, spreading his arms wide in question. 

“Nothing!” Leo slips out of Luis’s grasp and rushes towards Xavi. 

“Name?”

“Lionel Messi..?” Leo trails off awkwardly, tugging on his ID card. 

Xavi squints at him. 

“You’re the one who almost killed that woman.”

“No,” Luis says, walking up behind him. “He’s the one who saved that woman.”

“Well your patient, Suarez will not be saved if you don’t go to her now.” Xavi scowls at him and practically slaps the file into Leo’s hands. 

“Good luck, Leo! We’re rooting for you!” Iniesta waves at him as he leaves with a smile. 

The last thing Leo hears is Xavi hissing about being too nice to the interns. He and Luis navigate the halls together, and when they reach Leo’s patient’s room, Luis waves bye to him and Leo steels himself with a deep breath before going in. 

He hesitates a little when he sees his first patient isn’t much older than he is. 

“Oh! Are you my doctor?” She sits up inquisitively 

“Hi,” Leo glances at the chart “Annie. Yes, I’m Dr. Messi. Before we start, can I call someone for you? Being in a hospital is significantly less stressful with someone around.”

“No, I’m actually travelling.” Her lip trembles a little and her hand shakes as she takes it through her hair.

“We’re both new here, then.” Leo grins at her “how about we look out for each other while you’re here?”

She cracks a smile. 

“I’d like that.”

“Great. Now I’m just going to take your vitals, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

He listens to her chatter as he looks over her, noting the marbled patches on her skin and the way she keeps scratching at them. 

“How long have those been there?”

“Not long, maybe four days?”

Leo nods, frowning slightly as he slips the blood pressure cuff onto her arm. 

“How long do you think this will take?” She asks “I need to catch a flight to the Bora Bora.”

“I’ll try and get you out as quickly as possible. What are your plans for Bora Bora?” He glances up from measuring her blood pressure, to see her relax slightly. 

“Scuba diving!” Her face brightens “I took classes here for a while.”

“Is that where you got this cut on your ankle?” He jerks his chin towards a thin slice on her foot. 

“Yeah, on a piece of coral.”

“Okay, Annie, thanks. I’m done here for now.” He slips the blood pressure cuff off, smiling at her. 

“Thank you,” she says, smiling back “you’re nice. I was expecting a grumpy old man.”

Leo laughs, relief washing over him as he realises he made it through his first patient consultation in one piece. 

“Thanks Annie. I’ll see you around, okay?”

He sighs as he leaves, checking his assignment sheet for his next patient, and spends the rest of the morning on his feet, barely able to catch a break. He finishes up with a woman who has pneumonia and sighs as he leans against a wall, taking a few minutes to breathe. 

His feet hurt. His head hurt. And talking to so many people made him want to cry. He sighs again, running his hands through his hair. 

“You okay, man?” A guy with curly hair and blue scrubs frowns at him. 

“Fine,” Leo says tiredly “just catching my breath.”

And trying to understand what the hell was wrong with Annie. 

“Man, you’re only three hours into a fourteen hour shift.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“What’s your name? I’m Antoine Griezmann.”

“Leo Messi.”

“You’re the intern who did the thoracotomy with Dr. Guardiola!”

Leo groans. 

“Yes and it was unbelievably-“

“Lucky!” He shakes his head “that’s what I get for coming to work an hour early-“ he trails off, eyes widening as he peers down the hall. 

“What?” Leo glances that way only to see Dr. Guardiola walking towards them. 

“Oh no. Antoine hide me!”

“Hide you?! Hide me!”

Leo watches Dr. Guardiola stop by a room and stands up straighter. 

“I’m going to go talk to him.”

“Are you crazy? He literally ripped up the keynote speaker’s research while he was giving his speech!”

“No, I have to do this.”

Leo walks determinedly towards him. 

“I refuse to let you out unless you take your medication.” He says tiredly

“I will rappel myself out of this window. I refuse to stay here longer.” The patient tosses back. 

Dr. Guardiola sighs, turning away and walking to the vending machine just opposite it. 

His eyes keep flicking to the chocolate bar, but he doesn’t do anything after putting in the money. 

“Hi,” Leo says tentatively. Dr. Guardiola looks up at him for a second. 

“Rookie.”

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to get that woman to take her medication. She’s almost as stubborn as you,” he cuts a sideways glance at him. 

Leo joins him in looking at the vending machine. He punches the number for a packet of cocoa. 

“What are you doing?”

“Trust me.”

Leo pours it into a cup of hot water from the nurse’s station and hands it to Dr. Guardiola. 

“Give her that.”

“How is hot chocolate going to help anyone?”

“Just do it,” Leo raises his eyebrows. 

Dr. Guardiola sends him a questioning look, but walks back into her room. He comes out a few minutes later empty handed, looking mystified. 

“Are you going to tell me how you knew hot chocolate would make her take her medication?”

Leo grins at him. 

“No.”

Dr. Guardiola rolls his eyes. 

“What is it you want, Rookie?”

“To say I won’t let you down again.”

“You will.” He says simply. “And not only me, you’ll let yourself down more times than you’ll want to count.” His eyes scan Leo’s face as if they’re searching for something. 

“What’s important is how you get back to your feet.”

“Yes Doctor.”

He nods before going his way. Antoine approaches, raising his eyebrows. 

“I’m surprised he didn’t yell at you.”

“Honestly, so am I. Nice meeting you Antoine, I need to go check on my patient now.”

“See you around, Leo.”

Leo makes his way back to Annie’s room. She’s sitting desolately in her bed, idly playing with her phone. She looks up, smiling when she sees him. 

“Oh, hey Dr. Messi.”

“Hey Annie. I came to see how you were feeling?”

“Same as before. A nurse gave me some medicine a while ago.”

“Yeah, I prescribed antibiotics. Well if that’s all-“

“Hey, um Dr. Messi?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you stay here for a while? I’m a little...you know.”

“Of course I can,” Leo grins at her, sitting in the chair by her bed. 

“So where all did you go before you came here? Or was this your first travel destination?”

She blinks, as if confused by the question. Her words come out slurred. 

“Annie?” Leo leaps up to catch her as she tilts sideways off the bed, unconscious. 

Her heart rate monitor flatlines. 

“Annie? Oh god,” Leo leaps into the bed to position himself directly above her and starts chest compressions. 

“Code blue! We have a code blue in room 502!” He screams, pumping at her chest until the code team arrives. 

“Leo?” Luis stands in the doorway 

“Luis! Where’s the code team?”

“Someone else called one just before you.”

“Luis she’s not going to make it if they delay. She flatlined forty five seconds ago.”

Luis snaps on his gloves, a look of grim determination on his face. 

“I’ll do the compressions, you set up the defibrillator to 300 volts.”

Leo jumps off the bed and Luis takes his place as he races for the defibrillator. Pulling off her gown, he presses one on the right under her collarbone and the other under her left armpit. They work together, doing chest compressions and defibrillating her alternately. 

Then there’s a blessed, loud beeping sound as the heart rate monitor shows her pulse beating wildly. 

Leo rocks back on his heels, taking in a long breath. Luis cuts him a long glance, and as he’s about to say something, the door slams against the wall as Dr. Guardiola walks in, fuming. 

“What the hell happened?” He glares at Leo so fiercely it’s as if he’s trying to set him on fire. 

Leo can only stare at him, completely stunned. 

“Anaphylactic shock. She had an allergic reaction to the medication I prescribed.” He says after a moment. 

Dr. Guardiola seems to deflate a bit. 

“Well...at least you admitted your mistake. And you, Dr.?”

“Suarez.” Luis stands straighter. 

“Well done, Dr. Suarez. I’m not confident Dr. Messi could’ve handled this on his own.”

Leo gapes at him, and Luis looks at him quickly, then back at Guardiola, hesitating. 

“I-yes. Thank you doctor.”

“And you.” Dr. Guardiola spins back to face him, face contorting in anger. “Need to decide whether you’re cut out for this or not. I don’t care that it’s your first day or that you’re learning. This girl’s life depends on you. And if you cannot, you get the hell out.”

He glares at him for a few seconds more, then shakes his head and leaves. Luis shoots him an inside look but slips out quietly. 

Leo drags a hand over his face, eyes feeling mortifyingly hot as he leaves the room. His throat tightens, and he slips into a supply closet to pull himself back together. 

He takes a long shuddering breath as he slides down the wall to the ground, burying his face in his hands. Then the door swings open. He looks up to see Cris frowning at him. 

“Leo?”

“Get in or get out, Cris but close the door,” Leo hisses. There’s a soft click as Cris closes the door. 

“Hey, come on man. Get up.” He offers Leo both his hands, and when Leo takes them, he lifts him to his feet. 

“What’s wrong?”

Leo takes a deep breath. 

“My first patient almost died. And-and it was my fault and maybe I’m not cut out for this.”

“Wow.” Cris frowns at him “you got through four years of medical school and you’re quitting four hours into your first shift.”

He looks Leo up and down. 

“Didn’t take you for a quitter.”

“You just met me.”

“Look, Messi. If every doctor who cried in a supply closet quit, there would be no one here but the patients.”

Leo raises an eyebrow in question and Cris stifles a laugh. 

“Let’s just day you’re not the first doctor I’ve run into who was crying in a supply closet.”

“You don’t seem overwhelmed. And some would argue that looking inside someone’s body is more stressful than taking blood pressure.”

Cris doesn’t respond to the jab about their respective internships, just bites his lip, brow scrunched in thought. 

“The way I see it, there’s two options for you. The first is that you breeze through life with an unshakable confidence and self assurance like mine, or...you ride it out.”

“Ride it out? That’s not as good advice as you think it is,” Leo snorts. 

“Hey, I don’t know how the other side lives okay?” He moves a step closer, and when he raises his hand to wipe the tears off Leo’s cheek, the moment is almost surreal. “And neither should you.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Yes it is. You’re a doctor, Leo. The most challenging profession out there. You got through some really tough times and you couldn’t have done that if you didn’t have confidence in yourself. Look around. Suarez, all the other medics interns, they’re all confident to the point of arrogance.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be like that.”

“Then don’t. But you need to have self assurance. Whether you flaunt it or not.”

“You have a point, I guess.” Leo admits, running a hand through his hair. 

“I always do. Is there something I can get you?”

Leo peels up at him, considering. 

“You could give me a hug.” 

Probably not the flirtiest thing he could’ve said, but it’s too late now, because Cris breaks into a grin. 

“Alright, Leo.”

He wraps his arm around Leo in a hug that practically makes him melt. Warm and solid and reassuring. He smells clean, like detergent and sanitiser. 

Leo looks up at him, and then realises they’re close. They’re very close. 

Cris smiles. 

“Was all of this a ploy to get me in here alone?”

“Maybe,” Leo breathes, shifting onto his toes and right there in a dark supply closet, closes the narrow gap between their lips. 

Cris pulls back a little in surprise, but then Leo feels him smiling, and then he kisses back hard. Leo presses back against the shelves, knocking a few boxes down to the floor. He hooks a leg around Cris’s, pulling him even closer. Cris slides his hands under Leo’s shirt, tugging at the hem when the door opens. Reluctantly breaking the kiss, Cris turns to glare at whoever entered. 

“A little privacy, please.”

“Oh sure,” comes a very sarcastic voice “let me just ignore my patient’s health so that you can make out with someone.”

“What do you want?”

“The suture kit.”

Cris grabs it from the floor and hands it over, rolling his eyes as he turns back to Leo. 

“I guess we should get back to work,” Leo says with a grin 

“That resident really killed the mood didn’t he?” Cris winks at Leo, runs a hand through his hair and walks out without a glance back, the door swinging shut behind him. 

“I can do this,” Leo says after a moment. “Guardiola’s not beating me so easily.”

He walks out with his shoulders thrown back, determination on his face. He will find out what’s wrong with Annie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to get really fucking drunk

His determination doesn’t last very long. He’s completely and hopelessly lost. He turns left and finds himself face to face with the same supply closet he was in fifteen minutes prior. 

Groaning, he spins on his heel, scanning the multiple hallways. An elderly woman shuffles past, but then stops and grins at him. 

“Are you lost young man?”

“Yes,” Leo says tentatively 

“I’ll take you to the lift if you’d like.” She smiles at him 

“Thank you so much,” Leo falls into step beside her. Every doctor and nurse they walk past greets her warmly. 

“Did you catch last night’s finale, Mrs. Martinez?” Puyol asks as he jogs past. 

“Oh yes, it was delightful Carles.”

“Is this your first day here?”

“Yeah, I think I’ve gotten lost about ten times so far.”

“I don’t blame you,” she laughs “it’s like a maze in here.”

“So how do you know your way around so well, Mrs. Martinez?”

“I’ve been in here for about six years now, love.” She pinches his cheek “there you go, the lift’s just there.”

“Thank you Mrs. Martinez.” Leo smiles gratefully at her. 

“No need to worry, you’ll get acclimated soon enough. There’s some things you just can’t rush,” she smiles at him and turns around again, giving Leo a view he didn’t ever want to see. Her hospital gown is doing nothing to hide her absolutely bare behind. Leo presses his lips together to keep from laughing as he races down the corridor in time to catch the lift. 

“Didn’t want to tell her about her gown?” The guy in the elevator says with a grin. Leo looks at him, unable to contain his laughter anymore. The guy himself is lean and tall, with a head of curly hair and he’s wearing a first aid officer’s uniform. 

“I’m pretty sure she does it on purpose,” Leo says once he’s gained enough control over his laughter. 

“I’m Neymar.” The paramedic says with a grin

“Leo.”

They settle into silence.

Maze...just can’t rush. 

“Oh shit!” Leo slams the button for the fifth floor just in time. 

“You okay?” Neymar calls after him in alarm. 

Leo frantically waves goodbye over his shoulder as he races into Annie’s room. Pep comes in a while later, raising an eyebrow. 

“I’m told you wanted to see me?” He crosses his arms, leaning against the doorframe 

“I solved the case,” Leo says with a proud grin 

“I’ll be the judge of that,” 

Leo forces himself to take a deep breath, counts to ten, and then says. 

“You surfaces too quickly during your scuba diving once, didn’t you?”

Annie frowns, thinking back 

“Yeah, once.”

Leo nods. 

“The result of that is decompression sickness and labyrinthitis. Which is an inflammation in your ear which caused your problems.”

Annie nods

“So what do we do now?”

“We can ease your symptoms, but the condition itself goes away with time,” Leo smiles at her. “I’ll prescribe your medication and then you can leave.”

“How much time?”

“A few weeks, most likely.”

She smiles in relief. 

“Thank you, Dr. Messi.”

“No problem Annie.”

He walks out into the wall, feeling on top of the world. 

“I’ll just fill out the prescription and-“

“Don’t bother,” Pep says, “I already have.” He shoves a prescription at Leo’s chest. 

“What? Why?”

“In case you didn’t solve it. Can’t have the hospital being sued.”

“You knew all this time? Why didn’t you give her the medication?” Leo starts to shout, but then lowers his voice carefully, fists curling at his sides. 

“I would have in about-“ he checks his watch “forty minutes. I wanted to see if you could do it.”

“Don’t. Ever. Put a patient’s life at risk again because you want to play some stupid game, doctor.” Leo grits his teeth, slams the paper back into Pep’s hand, turns on his heel and walks away. 

“It was for a reason,” Pep says “if it was anyone else I would’ve treated her. But you showed potential. You sat with her, listened to her. And that’s one of the most important traits a doctor can have.”

Leo keeps walking. He meets up with Antoine in the atrium. 

“Ready to go?”

“Go where?”

“The bar down the street. Everyone goes there.”

“Sure,” 

And so they go. 

The bar is dingy, dim and completely packed. Antoine leads him through the crowd to a table in the back where Luis, a tall golden haired guy, Neymar and an unremarkable guy are sitting. 

“Everyone, this is Leo,” Antoine says by means of introduction. 

“Nice to meet you, now come on, there’s about a minute until happy hour finishes.” the unremarkable one says 

“Relax, Ney. I put in a very large order for us a while back. It’ll keep us going.” The golden haired guy says with a grin. Then he turns his attention to Leo. “I’m Gerard Piqué. That’s Ousmane.”

“Hi,” Leo says, taking a seat as a waitress arrives with a large tray full of shot glasses. 

“Anyone order tequila?”

“You want to start with tequila?” Antoine gapes at Luis 

“Start, finish and everything in between,” Luis offers him a wink. They all pick up their shot glasses. 

“To the end of a long shift,” Gerard says tiredly. 

They all clink glasses and slam them back. 

“Oh shit,” Antoine shakes his head “that’s one way to wake me back up.”

“Is there salt? Or limes?” Ousmane looks around the table. 

“Shut up Ousmane. Lime and salt are for wimps.” Luis rolls his eyes. 

“To new friends,” Antoine shouts 

They slam another shot down. 

“Leo your turn,” Luis turns to him. 

“To the start of a fabulous career.”

“I’ll toast to that,” Luis laughs 

Leo knocks the third one back, revelling in the burning of his throat and laughing as Ousmane splashes it everywhere but inside his mouth. 

“I’m switching to water,” he mutters 

Leo and Antoine stand to let him out of the booth, and a guy elbows Leo’s ribs as he walks toward the bar. 

“Hey!” Antoine snaps “that was my friend you just ran over.”

“So?” The guy mutters

“So apologise.” Antoine growls out. 

Leo and the man both look at Antoine’s petite frame, and then his eyes, which are practically on fire. 

“Dude, he’s about to kick your ass,” Luis calls from the booth, where he’s watching with a grin. 

The man looks at Antoine nervously 

“Sorry,”

Antoine smiles. 

“Good. Leo? Apology accepted?”

“Uh..yeah,” he says, still a little stunned. 

Antoine beams at him, then slips back into the booth. Leo’s about to do the same when he hears 

“Leo!” Over the noisy music. 

He looks up, scanning the room until he finds Cris, waving his arms to get his attention in the middle of a crowd of rowdy surgical interns. He tilts his head in a come hither way, and Leo slips through the crowd to get to him. 

Cris grins at him, throwing an arm around him. 

“Everyone, meet Leo Messi, the only cool medical intern.”

The blond guy from earlier offers him a smile. 

“Hey,”

“That’s Sergio, and he will inevitably try and sway you into becoming a surgeon.” 

“Sorry,” Leo says, laughing “I like talking to my patients, not cutting them open.”

“Hey, I talked to a very sweet old man today before I watched my resident cut his lungs open!”

“Right,” Leo says dryly. 

“Alright, alright I see your point.” Cris tilts his head “you up for a game of foosball?”

“I don’t want to embarrass you,” Leo says with a grin 

“Sh, Leo. You don’t need to worry about that. Tell you what, since you’re feeling cocky, let’s place a bet.”

“Alright.” Leo grins. “I bet a kiss.”

The surgical interns holler and whistle as Cris raises his eyebrows 

“You’re obsessed,” he says, grinning playfully “but you’re on.”

They play, and soon they’re both on 9-9. 

“Cris your hair gel’s wearing out,” Leo says, looking at his hair in surprise and Cris’s eyes go wide as he reaches up to touch to his hair. With a quick flick of his wrist, Leo spins his players and sends the ball straight into the goal. 

“My hair is fine-ay!” Cris gapes at him in mock outrage. “You little cheat,” 

“Shut up and come here, Ronaldo.” Leo rolls his eyes. 

Cris bites his lip, considering. Then he reaches out, wrapping an arm around Leo’s waist and pulling him closer so his lips hover tantalisingly above Leo’s. 

“You’re a cheater you know that?”

“Are you complaining?” Leo whispers teasingly, pulling back a little 

“Don’t be absurd,” Cris lowers his head, and then they’re kissing, and Leo’s heart is beating so fast it hurts.

When they break for air, the first thing he’s aware of is the whistling and billeting and teasing shouts of “traitor!” And “get it Ronaldo!”

Leo just smiles, loops his arms around Cris’s neck and pulls him closer for a slower, deeper kiss. 

Much much later, Leo’s sleepily propped his chin on his hand as he almost falls asleep on the bar. 

“Hey,” Luis appears nudging him with his hip 

“Hey,” 

Luis passes out glasses full of water to everyone, then turns back to Leo. 

“No hard feelings right?”

“For what? Giving me a raging hangover? Yes there are hard feelings.”

“Hardy har har. I meant about the patient.”

“You mean the one you took all the credit for?”

“Hey, a world class doctor commended me. I’m not turning that down.”

Leo looks at him and sighs.

“You’ll have to make it up to me,” he tries to make it sound teasing, but he doesn’t know if it works, judging by how he’s too drunk to form his words properly. 

Luis laughs. 

“That I can do. Come on all of you up, your inability to hold your liquor is appalling. Time to go home.”


End file.
